Patrick J. Bradley was born about 1825 in Maghera, County Londonderry, Ireland, to parents Michael Bradley (1783-1872), and Bridget Murray (1800-1883), both born in Ireland.

Patrick was the second child in a family of eight children. His brothers and sisters were: John Bradley (1824-1896), Mary E. Bradley-Kearney (1832-1911), Michael C. Bradley (1833-1900), Dennis Bradley (1834-1898), Annie Bradley-Henry (1838-1904), and Bridget Bradley-O'Riell (??-??), James H. M. Bradley (1843-1906), all born in Ireland.

Patrick's family immigrated to the Baltimore, Maryland area in 1850. Reportedly, his older brother John was first to immigrate to the US and the rest of the family followed soon after John settled in Maryland. They lived a life of farming in Harford County until after the Civil War when the family relocated to a new farming area in Washington Twp, Cambria County, Pennsylvania.

According to one Bradley report, Patrick served in the Crimean War (1854-1856), and then went to Australia after that war, and then to Maryland where Patrick then moved the family to Pennsylvania.

On May 12, 1857, in the St. Aloysius RC Church in Cresson, Cambria County, Pennsylvania, Patrick married Margaret Bradley, born in Ireland (1834-1896). Patrick and Margaret settled in Washington Twp, Cambria County, where Patrick was a farmer. They had nine known children: Elizabeth Bridget Bradley-Rafferty (1858-1947), John Patrick Bradley (1859-1942), Michael Daniel Bradley (1861-1927), Mary Jane Bradley-Farren (1864-1940), Susan Bradley-Quirk (1867-1949), Rosanna M. Bradley-McCarthy (1870-1941), Anastasia Bradley-Quirk (1872-1949), Caroline M. Bradley-Thompson (1874-1916), and Walter James Bradley (1877-1912), all born in Cambria County, Pennsylvania.

Patrick died on Jan 18, 1910, in Cresson and is buried in St. Aloysius Cemetery with other family members.